MS-13 member gets 14 years in stabbings, attacks
Walter Noel Barahona, 23, admitted affiliation with Salvadoran group
By a Sun Reporter
Originally published April 16, 2007, 12:06 PM EDT

A 23-year-old MS-13 gang member was sentenced in federal court to 14 years in prison today for his role in a series of stabbings and attacks, prosecutors said.

Walter Noel Barahona of Hyattsville pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to conduct and participate in the racketeering enterprise activities of the MS-13 gang and admitted to attending MS-13 meetings and paying dues to the gang, prosecutors said.

Barahona, also known as "Lil Loco," participated in the stabbing of a rival gang member near a Langley Park night club in September 2004 and an attack on two youths -- one of whom was a rival gang member -- in Langley Park in June 2005, prosecutors said. He also participated in a gang assault on a 17-year-old student as he walked home from school in October 2003, prosecutors said.

MS-13 is a gang consisting of immigrants and descendants of immigrants from El Salvador with an international membership of 10,000 people, prosecutors said. Nine MS-13 members have been convicted in the Maryland attacks.